Q. How did you feel when you were appointed president of Eastern New Mexico University?
A. “Shock!” is the word that comes to mind. I had never considered the possibility of being a university president. Most of my experience had been in teaching and in faculty affairs serving on the Faculty Senate. Although I was serving […]
Dr. Floyd D. Golden served as the second president of what became Eastern New Mexico University from 1941-1960. In his book, “The Golden Years,” he details the founding and growth of Eastern through 1960.
In a forward to the book, Dr. Charles W. Meister, fourth president from 1965-75, writes:
“The man who probably contributed the most to […]
by Erin Griffith
“Oh, my goodness alive! It is a miracle,” Migdon Cox said with a chuckle. “You just can’t realize, you can’t imagine how—it was just those two buildings.”
Migdon Cox, 90, graduated from Eastern New Mexico Junior College in 1938, when there was nothing more than the current Administration Building and a girl’s dormitory, and […]
by Roma Vivas
Remembering the world of 60 years ago is not hard for Billy Brown Lees (B.B.) and his wife, Jimmie Fern, who can talk about the 1940’s and 50’s as though it were yesterday.
“Eastern is our life. If you take a few years out, we have spent a lifetime here,” said B.B.
In 1948, Jimmie […]
The call came in 1996. Eastern New Mexico University has been nominated for the Pew Charitable Trusts award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. “Do we want to apply?” the representative from Pew asked. We would have to complete a complex report and undergo a three-day campus visit. What was our answer?
My first reaction is, “This […]
When I assumed the presidency of Eastern New Mexico University on Aug. 1, 2001, I knew I was very fortunate. ENMU had benefitted from a series of strong administrations which had compiled substantial financial reserves, maintained good academic programs and standards, and ensured that competent people staffed the institution. Best of all, the presidents who […]
By Robin Haislett
Tucked away in the back recesses of the second floor of Golden Library (the exact location where the Greyhound football team once played on Saturday afternoons) is a repository of information, quite often overlooked, that tells the history of ENMU’s first 75 years.
Special Collections, coordinated by Gene Bundy, has built a treasure trove […]
By Wendel Sloan
David Stone, president of the Portales National Bank, recently published an article in New Mexico Magazine about the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to create Eastern New Mexico Junior College.
During the 1927 session of the State Legislature Roosevelt County state senator Graham Bryant knew he was one vote short of getting approval for the founding of […]
During the administration of Dr. Warren Armstrong (1975-83), ENMU had begun to emerge as a mature regional university, with the faculty, scholarly expectations, and governance appropriate to the third largest four-year university in the state. As the University entered its fifth decade and as I assumed duties as president in1983, however, new challenges presented themselves […]
By Farrell Odom
On May 4, 1970, the National Guard was called in to restore order at a protest of the Vietnam War at Kent State University—resulting in the shooting deaths of four students.
Shortly thereafter, student activists at ENMU interrupted classes while carrying makeshift coffins representing those slain at Kent State. This action angered the conservative […]
